Gov. McDonnell signs $5.9 billion transportation funding bill

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed Virginia's Road to the Future, the state's first transportation funding plan approved in 27 years, which will increase funding for Virginia's transit providers by $509 million and provide more than $256 million in funding for intercity passenger rail within the first five years.

The bill will provide more than $3.4 billion in additional statewide transportation funding, more than $1.5 billion in additional funding for Northern Virginia and more than $1 billion in additional funding for Hampton Roads Transit, during the next five years. This legislation is expected to annually sustain 13,058 new jobs.

Additionally, findings of a recently-completed economic impact analyses conducted by Chmura Economics were released. The analysis that focused on new transit and rail spending, determined that the additional funding provided to the Department of Rail and Public Transportation will have an economic impact of more than $1.4 billion and support 14,625 jobs, or 2,925 jobs per year, between FY 2014 and FY 2018. The new dedicated intercity passenger rail funding will enable Virginia to extend passenger rail service to Roanoke within the next four years.